* Illinois early vote totals…

The @illinoissbe has updated early vote totals (11/04/22):
Total VBM requested: 872,234
Total VBM returned: 520,119
Total VBM outstanding: 352,115
Return Rate: 60%
Total Early Vote: 535,832
Total Grace Period: 9,013
Total Already Voted: 1,064,964https://t.co/44ga6Axjmq

— IL Election Data (@ILElectionData) November 4, 2022

* Chicago early vote totals…

The most up-to-date Early Vote and Vote By Mail totals in Chicago, night of Thursday, November 3, 2022.

The Early Vote total stands at 93,416 ballots cast.

Additionally, 89,208 Vote By Mail ballots have been returned to the Board – total VBM applications stands at 210,033.

The grand total is 182,624 ballots cast so far in Chicago for the November 8th General Election.

FOR COMPARISON:

As of June 24, 2022 (4 days out from the 6/28/22 Primary Election): 81,139 ballots cast

As of October 29, 2020 (4 days out from the 11/3/20 Presidential Election): 657,325 ballots cast

As of November 1, 2018 (4 days out from the 11/6/18 General Election): 193,754 ballots cast

Chicago, with 21 percent of the population, is still at just 17 percent of the total.

* Roll Call…

Races shifting toward Republicans

• Illinois’ 13th District (Open; Rodney Davis, R, lost primary), from Lean Democratic to Tilt Democratic
• Illinois’ 17th District (Open; Cheri Bustos, D, retiring), from Tilt Democratic to Toss-up

* Sen. Darren Bailey was asked today what specifically he would do differently about K-12 education that what’s currently being done…

Well day one agenda is to fire the entire State Board of Education and replace them with common sense people, because the State Board of Education has failed our children. Number two, I served on a school board for 17 years, I will make sure that parents’ voices are heard at the local level and I will make sure that local school boards respond to the concerns and the voices of the parents.

* ILGOP press release…

Yesterday, ILGOP Chairman Don Tracy joined suburban Republican leaders to speak out against the behavior of State Representative Jonathan Carroll in the wake of continued allegations:

“We would hope the Democratic leadership at the state, Congressional District, Township and Precinct level would share the belief with us that these allegations — which by the way were revealed far too late to be of political advantage to Republican candidate Rory Welch — need to be addressed expeditiously so that voters who have not yet gone to the polls can hear them, hear both sides and make their judgments in the voting booth. The time is now to demand this from Carroll; waiting until after the election would show callous disregard to the electorate we are supposed to serve,” said the 17 GOP leaders in their statement .

Most recently a former staffer of Carroll’s, Elly Fawcett-Neal filed a complaint with the Inspector General last month claiming that Carroll’s chief of staff pressured her to get an abortion . She was later fired.

Springfield Lobbyist Tiffany Elking claims that Carroll called her and threatened to thwart the legislative agenda of the PAC she represented unless her client Jay Edelson dropped an objection to a class action settlement where Carrol’s ex-wife served as co-counsel.

Further, he has been accused by his ex-wife in a sworn court filing of “refus[ing] to meaningfully financially contribute toward the support of his two minor children since the parties’ separation in October 2021.”

“These allegations detail potentially illegal behavior and reprehensible treatment of women. State Rep Carroll must immediately answer in detail each allegation publicly. If he fails to do that, he should immediately resign his seat and suspend his campaign.”

* Hoan Huynh is the Democratic nominee in the 13th Illinois State Representative District…

Mussolini?

* Isabel’s roundup…

* Washington Post | A total lunar eclipse will turn the moon blood red on Election Day: Hours before citizens across the country cast their votes in a contentious midterm election, a sinister red moon will loom in the sky. The last total lunar eclipse of 2022 is set to stain the moon red during the wee hours of Tuesday morning. Residents across both coasts will be able to watch the spectacle for just under 90 minutes.

* Daily Herald | What’s fiction, what’s fact about the SAFE-T Act and the elimination of cash bail: There’s not a hotter topic on the campaign trail in Illinois, or in law enforcement circles nationwide, than the SAFE-T Act, the sweeping criminal justice reform package that will eliminate cash bail starting Jan. 1. And with all that heat has come plenty of confusion and misinformation about what’s really in the bill and what it means for you.

* Sun-Times | Beware of fake ‘newspapers’ packaged as the old-school real deal : Alarmingly, those disseminating false information have gotten wiser, learning how to relay their problematic narratives in packaging that can potentially confuse even the most discerning readers. Take the case of right-wing “newspapers” that have been infiltrating the mailboxes of Chicago area voters as we head into next week’s mid-term elections, as the Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet reports.

* Tribune | J.B. Pritzker, conquerer of worlds? The memeing of the Illinois governor gets weird: Among the lesser discussed subjects of the 2022 midterm elections has been a quiet campaign to elect J.B. Pritzker to the position of Great Khan of the Midwest and — well, who knows what the borders of his empire shall resemble once he conquers? As you’re probably aware, Pritzker is currently governor of Illinois, seeking a second term. He has made no formal announcement of his intent to deliver a horde into battle and crush Wisconsin or anywhere else. But that has not stopped Nomadic Warriors for Pritzker.

* Crain’s | Thanks to early voting and vote-by-mail, 1 million ballots have been cast so far in Illinois: Just under 12% of Illinois’ registered voters—roughly one in eight—have already cast a ballot in the 2022 general election, according to the latest report from the State Board of Elections. Voting continues to be particularly peppy in portions of the suburbs while relatively light in Chicago proper, although the city has picked up some, too.

* Daily Herald | Wheeler, Hanson vie to represent the redrawn 83rd state House distric : Voters in the redrawn state House 83rd District Tuesday will choose between someone who has been a legislator for the past eight years or a former Kane County Board member. Republican Keith Wheeler of Oswego, the Republican, has been in the state legislature since 2015. He currently represents the 50th District.

* David Orr | Election deniers in Illinois are putting pressure on voting access. We can’t let them succeed. : Election officials across the country are bracing for possible disruption by extremist groups planning “aggressive poll watching.” They’re also resigning in large numbers in the face of harassment, threats and bogus charges of fraud — constituting a major loss of badly needed professionalism and experience and, in many cases, an opening for those who want to dictate election results of their own liking. On a smaller scale so far, similar efforts are afoot in Illinois, purportedly to promote “election integrity” but actually aimed at undermining confidence in our elections. WBEZ-FM 91.5 has reported on a coordinated campaign of “copycat letters from conspiracy theorists” going to county clerks across the state, threatening lawsuits and citing vague “evidence” that “America has not had a free or fair election since 2017.”

* Illinois Times | 2022 Elections: When there is so much confusion in this nation’s politics, when misinformation itself is on the ballot and election deniers campaign for election, it is more important than ever to vote. A vote is an endorsement of the process, and marks each voter as a participant in a system under attack. If the process thrives this time, confusion and misinformation will eventually be defeated, and democracy will win this election.

* Illinois Times | Much confusion over Amendment 1: Some people have taken to calling it the stealth amendment: an effort to amend the Illinois Constitution in a manner that will benefit organized labor. But just how it would work and what exactly it would do has many folks scratching their heads. Amendment 1, which voters will decide Nov. 8, would amend the state constitution to make it easier for labor unions to maintain membership and to protect benefits of workers who are mostly employed by local and state governments.

* WICA | Candidates compete for position as Illinois’ chief financial officer: Comptroller Susana Mendoza is running for re-election against Republican challenger Shannon Teresi. A recent Nexstar, Emerson College and The Hill poll shows about 49% of likely voters said they would support Mendoza, while about 36% said they would back Teresi.

* Sun-Times | With tensions high ahead of Tuesday’s election, top cop says there’s ‘no threats specific to Chicago’: Last month, federal authorities issued advisories warning about threats to both election workers and voters. A poll conducted in March by the Brennan Center, a nonprofit law and public policy institute headquartered in New York City, found that nearly 17% of poll workers reported being threatened. But on Friday, Chicago Police Supt. David Brown assured reporters there weren’t any “threats specific to Chicago,” adding that his department’s social media team continues to monitor for anything alarming.

* AP | US Employers Are Hiring Briskly Even In Face of Rate Hikes: America’s employers kept hiring vigorously in October, adding 261,000 positions, a sign that as Election Day nears, the economy remains a picture of solid job growth and painful inflation. Friday’s report from the government showed that hiring was brisk across industries last month, though the overall gain declined from 315,000 in September. The unemployment rate rose from a five-decade low of 3.5% to a still-healthy 3.7%.

* WTTW | Cook, DuPage County Boards With Tight Races Up For Grabs Next Week: There’s real competition in DuPage County where there’s an open seat for DuPage County Board chair. Republican Dan Cronin has chaired the DuPage County Board for the past dozen years, but he is not running for re-election, making it an open seat that Democrats hope to claim for the first time. State Representative Deb Conroy of Elmhurst says all 58 chairs of the DuPage County Board have been Republican men and it’s time to change that.

* WBEZ | Five commonly asked questions about judicial elections: While the candidates listed on this section of the ballot might be more obscure, the decisions that judges make have a direct impact on people’s lives, including who might get custody of the children in a divorce and whether someone is sent to prison. So as part of our ongoing collaboration with Injustice Watch, we’re answering your last-minute questions about how judicial elections work and where you can find more information about the candidates on the upcoming ballot.

* Daily Herald | Why three suburban congressional races have been among the hottest in the state: In the 6th District, 11th District and 14th District, Republican challengers are trying to unseat Democratic incumbents. The races have been costly, with most of the campaigns raising and spending millions to share their messages with voters through TV ads and other means. The three races also have been fairly messy, with the candidates — or their teams and supporters — trying to discredit their rivals in interviews, speeches, news releases and social media posts.

* Herald Review | Crime, SAFE-T Act top focuses in race for the 96th: In sum, 60 House members voted in favor of the act, 50 voted in opposition, and three did not vote. Scherer’s was thus one of the deciding votes effectively passing the bill. Now, the Decatur Democrat is about to face a challenger who says it was Scherer’s SAFE-T Act vote that helped convince her to run. Lisa Smith, a political newcomer who ardently opposes the act, argues it will lead to multiple unintended consequences.

* NPR | Why aren’t more moms running for office? One group is hoping to change that: This year, there are a record number of women who are nominees in races for governor and state legislatures, according to the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. Women — even more so those with young children — are still in the minority, Vote Mama’s research shows. This is despite the proven political power of mothers, University of Virginia a politics professor Jennifer Lawless said.

* ABC 7 | Evanston residents to vote on ranked choice voting referendum in 2022 election: It’s called ranked choice voting. “Rank Choice Voting can make our politics more democratic and less divisive,” said Alisa Kaplan, Reform for Illinois executive director. “It’s great for voters because they can choose more than one candidate.”

* The Hill | Large majority says they are concerned about political violence: Majorities of every political persuasion are “very concerned” about the phenomenon, including 75 percent of Democrats, 61 percent of independents and 56 percent of Republicans. Most Democrats and Republicans say that the opposite party is to blame for political violence, with 31 percent of those polled claiming that Republicans are responsible and 25 percent saying Democrats are responsible.